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My Biggest Problem with Guild Wars 2https://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/my-biggest-problem-with-guild-wars-2/
https://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/my-biggest-problem-with-guild-wars-2/#respondFri, 09 May 2014 16:39:39 +0000http://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/?p=38]]>One of the most striking issues with GW2 for me was in the disjointed relationship between gravity, levity, story and presentation. You have a fairly seriously “story” built to draw you into the world and shepherd you through, yet that story is presented in a way that feels rough and somewhat silly. The game is beautiful with voice acting and wonderful environments, yet the emptiness of the world overcomes that promise and leaves you with only a passing connection to anything you encounter.

You move from quest to quest, zone to zone clicking and killing. These tasks are all “different” somehow in story, but the result is a not-even-veiled cycling of the same few mechanics over and over. Eventually you just go to a new empty heart, fill it up and go without a moment’s care for anything other than the “tick up”.

The combat adds to the sense of pointlessness as the removal of the traditional trinity(+) just causes a DPS and Don’t Die rush. Combat with others is chaotic and often unrewarding.

The “Living World” content would be a huge saving grace, except for the utter lack of writing talent. The “Living World” stories suffer from the same sort of disconnect where the silliness and near-amateur story execution undermines the seriousness and sense of caring that’s required for serious investment.

I liked many aspects of Guild Wars 2 as well, and I thought it had a great deal of potential. It’s a huge game full of content which, perhaps, was spread too thin. Perhaps it will become one of those games I go back to down the line and find a new appreciation for what has been learned all around. The “Living World” content has so much potential, but the storytelling skills need some fine tuning before Guild Wars 2 starts to rival my attention with The Secret World or Final Fantasy XIV.

]]>https://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/my-biggest-problem-with-guild-wars-2/feed/0lookingforplaytimeguild.wars2.05.lgDaily Goals and Update 05/09/14https://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/daily-goals-and-update-050914/
https://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/daily-goals-and-update-050914/#respondFri, 09 May 2014 12:28:05 +0000http://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/?p=34]]>Whew! Not so much gaming was done yesterday as I had many things to do. I did get a handful of smaller chunks of time here and there which were perfect for a quick games of Hearthstone or two. Since Wednesday I’ve also raised my DCUO hero to 19 which has been front and center in my mind.

I had a chance to sit down last night and play about and hour of Planetside 2 as well and was, again, reminded of why I find that game so very compelling. I got lucky and was dropped into a very organized squad whose play was so clearly on a higher level out of my reach. The actions were of the larger variety, with organization and general understanding of the terrain and plan of attack. It was absolutely educational to watch individuals who know what they’re doing actually engaging in 100+ person battles as front lines shift and air support comes blazing in to save the day.

Planetside 2 can be immensely confusing and daunting for a new player. I’m barely at a point where I have even a basic grasp of the basic mechanics, let alone the larger questions of strategy and learned skill. However, what keeps me excited and very interested in the game is exactly what I experienced last night: Darting from cover to cover while artillery shells explode around you and bullets whistle past your ear; charging forward with thirty other teammates while your enemies quickly retreat to fortified positions and bucker in for a siege; looking about and watching the armored division choke enemy reinforcements while a Galaxy swoops down and drops a platoon of soldiers to perfectly execute a flanking attack complimenting your own squad’s assault.

The best part (for me) of Planetside 2? It’s so very drop-in, drop-out. I can play fifteen minutes or four hours. It’s a very flexible game and can be very rewarding once you haul yourself up that first plateau of the steeper difficulty curve.

But for today?

DCUO gogogo get to 30!

FFXIV is sort-of on a break at the moment. I may fall behind in my tome grind.

The Secret World is calling me! Tokyo is imminent, and I do miss the game. Hard to motivate myself to go back to such pure grind, though.

FFXIV Tomes of Soldiery will be a static here. At least until the next tome grind. Still at 70/450 I’ll probably put it off until later in the week. Over the last few weeks I went pretty deep into FFXIV, and I need to step back for a short bit to recharge. I also have been working my Marauder (currently 25) and Gladiator (currently 15) up the levels. My intent here is to use Marauder for PvP and having a level 50 tank isn’t too shabby at all. Gladiator just needs to hit 22 for “Provoke”.

DCUO leveling (USPVP). This game really sucked me in. I didn’t have much time yesterday to play, and only ended up gaining two levels (barely!) to put me at 14. I’m anxious to get some less interrupted playtime now that I spent a lot of time yesterday being elsewhere very productive.

Speaking of DCUO, I’ve been charmed by this little game. In all likelihood I’ll expand on this idea much further in a future article, but DCUO hits a nice sweet spot for me as a “playground” game sporting a lot of features and mechanics that make me smile. There’s no way one could call DCUO a “sandbox”, but it’s far from the sterile “themepark” MMOs of the past years. One part open-world (like GTA or, more apt, Crackdown) and one part Sims-esque character/architectural design spiked by a hefty dose of personalization (leading to a certain overall-uniqueness) tied together by tried-and-true 2011-standard MMO trappings.

Hell, there are some things DCUO does brilliantly like their approach to role/trinity. Every character is, by default, a DPS with the option to switch to tank, healer or control based on their powers.

]]>https://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/wednesday-may-7th-2014/feed/0lookingforplaytimeMMET101_AUDIO-PC-06-16.47.430SOE’s All-Intriguing All-Accesshttps://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/soes-all-intriguing-all-access/
https://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/soes-all-intriguing-all-access/#commentsTue, 06 May 2014 15:15:19 +0000http://lookingforplaytime.wordpress.com/?p=12]]>The All-Access Subscription from SOE has to be the most interesting and potentially game-changing advance in the community-developer relationship within the world of MMOs.

I’ve never been a big player of any of SOE’s many MMOs over the years. This certainly isn’t an aversion to SOE’s games, but instead it was always simply timing or distraction. Everquest hit it’s heyday during a rare period when I barely played games aside from Smash Bros or Goldeneye with friends between D&D sessions. Star Wars Galaxies was past the NGE by the time I had created a trial character who was quickly forgotten due to intense lag on my old, sad Inspiron 6000. By the time I began playing WoW, the king had already cast a long, dark shadow over the likes of Everquest II and The Matrix Online. All this is a good thing.

When SOE announced their “All-Access Subscription” back in January, I perked up.

The “pass”, as of May 6th, covers Everquest, Everquest 2, Planetside 2 and DCUO (as well as 5 booster packs per month for the Legends of Norath TCG and access to the now free-to-play-no-additional-benefit-for-subbing original Planetside). SOE’s other titles Dragon’s Prophet, Landmark and H1Z1 are slated for addition to the pass in the future. For the “standard” price of fifteen bucks you get subscription perks and 500 station cash ($5) for use in any game. All these games are free-to-play, so in essence you’re paying for additional perks which may and may not be useful.

I want to chronicle the process of trying out SOE’s All-Access pass. I love playing new games and seeing how different systems and approaches effect my experience. In the case of SOE I have never really played any of their games seriously before, so I’ll be starting from scratch almost everywhere. Already I’ve brought my Planetside 2 character from BR3 to BR12 rather quickly, but I have also been pouring a good amount of time into my superhero in DCUO during the past few days.

This is a catalogue of games I often overlooked in favor of others, and jumping on this subscription is something I have a lot of interest in. I’d love to see the same approach, even in part, from Square-Enix allowing access to both Final Fantasy XI and XIV. In that case, I’d love to go back to XI to poke about from time to time, but I’d never justify starting a subscription even for a month.

So far it seems Planetside 2 and DUCO have my interest in the largest portion, which may be unsurprising as they’re the newer titles amongst the bunch.

FFXIV Tomes of Soldiery reset. Already did my expert roulette for a weekly jump start of 70/450. This’ll be done by Wednesday.

Hearthstone May season. Only played a few games so far on the ladder. More interested in the new cards from Naxx.

DCUO leveling. I never really played this game before, but it’s really got me hooked now. I’m sprinting to 30 with my hero and very much enjoying flying about stopping baddies and decorating my ultra-secret-hideout-lair.

Otherwise it’s a good deal of real world stuff to deal with as well. Now where did I put that laundry macro..?